First Grow-Aero-Stealth Box

[Skybound]

It may have been progressing for a while now, but because my box is so small and I had so much crammed in, I was only able to access the first site. I didn't want to keep lifting them little pots out cause putting them back in was likely cutting the roots. At any rate it was a lesson I needed to learn and definitely did. If I can't have water temps addressed first, I won't do hydro again. I'm thinking I'll give Capn's simple hydro a whirl next grow. I wanted to do an rdwc, but I've invested far too much thus far with no return and to add 100+ miles to my next locatioI' i'm really gonna need a safer bet to hopefully at least break even. I'll revisit the RDWC whI can better afford the loss.n i

 

[donpaul.p]

@Skybound, was the roots slimey mate, not all roots stay totally white, some do go a sort of brown colour, its when they get slimey that you got problems and need to flush the system and give it a good clean, but roots do turn brown or a light brown as the plant gets older, they dont stay pure white through the whole grow, so did you have slime on the roots, the only time i had slime on my dwc is when the res temps was to high, so i made sure the res was in the shade using card board and the problem went away, but my roots do turn a sort of very light brown colour as the plant gets bigger, but i dont get any prolems with growth or anything like that, usually when you get a problem with the roots the top of the plant looks wilted or has some other problems, but if the plant looks ok and the roots are not slimey then chances are it would of been ok

also you can cut the roots back to remove the bad stuff then a few days later it grows back, are you sure its not a temp issue your having, is the res getting the lights shining on it, i just used cardboard and placed it over the top of the res so it reflects the light back up, this dropped temps in the res a few degrees and the problem then went away

 

[AfricanGrower]

>>>are you sure its not a temp issue your having, is the res getting the lights shining on it, i just used cardboard and placed it over the top of the res so it reflects the light back up, this dropped temps in the res a few degrees and the problem then went away

From my understanding I am pretty sure it was due to a temp issue. He was using 3 gal totes in a closed system that was located in his grow room. With the water pump running almost constantly I could only imagine what temps that could lead to, but I doubt reflecting the light off the res would substitute for the heat from the pump.

But we live and we learn, and I wish Sky the best of luck with the survivors and his future grows to come.

 

[Skybound]

I used a styrofoam cutout on the top to block and reflect light. I did not touch the roots, but just a few minutes ago after returning home from a long 30 hour shift, my best clone had done a nose dive and it's roots browned out severly so I chopped it and now only have the mom in the soil pot. 3 days into flower, I think sometime tomorrow I will make another batch of CO2 to help her along. All of the topped sites I created on her are stretching for the sky (skybound) and though their stems aren't as beefy as the 4 main stems, the plant is none the less growing according to what I envisioned and with the hydro days in the rear view, I can focus on maximizing this sole plant's potential and my increasing ability as a grower to help see that into fruition. I will take some detailed pics tomorrow night of the progress we've made together to demonstrate what I've learned thus far. till then, good night

 

[AfricanGrower]

On the bright side at least your mom will get all that extra room to stretch out during flower!

 

[Skybound]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I can get her to fill the entire 16"x30" inch footprint, she's already leaning that way any how.

 

[Skybound]

Day 3 Flower

I woke up earlier than I thought I would, so was able to get in the closet and get some nice pics of mom. Her lowest of branches are reaching up highest in the canopy with the 4 main cola stems LST'ed in the center. My target time frame to put the scrog in is roughly the beginning of week 3, which I am understanding to be the end of the stretch period in flower. Also, when the net goes up, I will finish lollipopping her, but I think most of that is already done for the most part. I will also take a few clones to get some of that good monster crop insane veg production going, but only if I have the majority of my other location constructed. I plan to use this unknown strain to help me work out some of the bugs in that location as I soon plan to visit herbie for some "Bomb" beans. Anybody have experience with the Bomb breeds? Ok, here's the pics.

I think I will do one more flushing of the soil to help wash out salt buildup and hopefully better pH the soil. I keep getting some of these leaves with some form of burn on them and want to resolve that before buds start to develop, any ideas or criticism? Also, I noticed that some times perfectly healthy leaves easily let go from the node point and fall to the soil. Vigorous plant bending with LST would explain some of that. but upon inspection of some of these fallen leaves, the tip of the stem appears to have been cauterized prior to being jettisoned from the plant. Maybe it's just the weak CFL beams that are not giving her enough of what she needs, so she prunes herself, but I thought I'd mention that anyway.

 

[AfricanGrower]

Damn Sky, I started cringing when I saw the LST on those MASSIVE stems! Great work there, where plenty of patients is involved!

>>>I keep getting some of these leaves with some form of burn on them and want to resolve that before buds start to develop, any ideas or criticism? Also, I noticed that some times perfectly healthy leaves easily let go from the node point and fall to the soil.

To me those leaves look to be turning grey/brownish from the edges and inward. It looks like a Phosphorous related problem in my opinion. Are the leaves brittle and dry?

I know that a Calcium deficiency aids to weak joints in plants, but I don't see any signs of actual Ca deficiency on the leaves.

Take a picture of the leaves that show the most affected area. Maybe we can determine a better conclusion.

 

[Skybound]

I will take more pics @ 10:00 PM EST. I dont get what u mean "plenty of patients"? Like fallen plants o learn the skills, or just branch removal? I'll try my best...
This will be the first plant I've ever grown so all techniques used are my first time. However, I have been cannabotany since 2001 and sporadically studying ever since, but just now saw a window of opportunity in life and pounced on it.

 

[Skybound]

Here's what I hope to be sufficient enough pics of the deficiencies/lock outs that are occurring in my grow. I especially hope nobody tells me I have PM based on the one pic of the underside of the leaf. Before the pics I want to inform you of what the medium is and what I added. The medium is Foxfarm Ocean forest with 25% added perlite. Mostly I've been feeding a 50% mix of GH Flora 3 part series in accordance with the drain to waste schedule, but recently I've been adding 100% on the micro, 75% gro, 50% bloom for the appropriate Veg schedule. Also is the mix was 100 strength GH Armor Si (silica), and most recently I started to add H2O2 @ 3ml per gallon of distilled. I know this kills the organisms that live in the soil, but I read that H2O2 greatly increases the amount of available oxygen to the root system by pushing out any stagnant water and this seemed more beneficial in my brain. This most recent watering (last day of veg 9/14) I water her with 3ml of H2O2 in a gallon of distilled water with the PH adjusted to 6.5. Now the top 2-3" are dry and I can feel a good amount of moisture in the root ball below. I suspect she won't begin drought stressing till tomorrow evening or Friday morning sometime. Her light schedule is 10PM-10Am.

Any insight is appreciated in advance!

 

[AfricanGrower]

These two leaf sections look like a calcium deficiency.

These two look like a phosphorus deficiency

It might not be as bad as you think Sky, though I can't tell whether it is a lockout or a deficiency. But have you been having calibration problems with your handheld pH meter? I know I have been having to calibrate mine every couple of days.

 

[donpaul.p]

i agree with all the comments above, its hard to tell if its a lock out or a def at this stage, its clearly related to whats been mentioned, it does look like the plants got 2 different problems in 2 different places, usually the problem is the same on all the leaves,

you would really need to check the ph of the soil, using a digital pen is not the best method to check the ph of soil but i guess its something that can be done if its all you got to play with, if the ph is off then you know its a lockout, if the ph is in the right area then its going to be a def issue,

theirs a plant health guide in my sig below so you can check their for possible cures, the only problem is a def looks the same as to much, ive had plants in the past that i thought needed more of one thing and it just made it worse so clearly i was giivng them to much,

with soil grown plants when you see the problem you know its been a problem for a while, so recovery is also slow, with hydro changes happen within a few hours to a day so problems happen quicker but you can solve them quicker in hydro, with soil its a slower process and you will have to wait a few days before you find out if you have solved the problem,

i had a cal/mag issue on my flowerering plant so flushed it twice and problem still kept getting worse, luckily i found out it was a def issue so upped the feed and problem sorted itself out, still lost the damaged leaves but even after feeding nutes again it still took 4 or 5 days before i seen the problem stop pregressing, even after the flush it was still a good 5 or 6 days before the problem slowed down a bit, so by flushing i made the problem worse, i thought i had given the plants to much so flushed then it didnt solve the problem, it was only when i upped the feed that the problem stopped progressing,

 

[Skybound]

I check mine once every other feeding. It fluctuates 0.01 and room temps never sway more than 5°. I'm gonna go with the 1/4 dose of GH Flora drain to waste, maybe half armor si, and half H2O2 to a gallon of distilled and only pour 1/4 gallon. Then tomorrow go get me a bottle of CalMag to mix with the other 3/4 of a gallon. I believe next week or the week after I'll be getting an RO/DI filter, so pH stabilization will be a bit easier, just gotta get to that point. Also, being as though I'm only under CFLs, I'm thinking to put the scrog in a bit sooner than right at 3 weeks. i got a feeling the 3 week stretch will not be as productive as I'd hope, but I'll keep my fingers crossed. AG, I will be getting on board with the CAPn style top drip or ebb & flo in grow cubes at the next location, so I'll have your grow under a microscope to get my mind aligned. Last night (9:30 this morning) I noticed wilt was starting to set in so I raised the light 6" and did a thorough foliar spray with 115 ppm @ 5.7. So I'm hoping this 1/4 gallon of 25% holds the little lady over for another 24. I will get CalMag first thing in the AM, so maybe sooner.

 

[Skybound]

Ok, so that didn't go according to plan. When I opened the door, she looked absolutely wretched. So I fed her the whole gallon. Tomorrow evening I may add a small amount of the calmag just to get some available, hopefully that will help. I slightly increased the dose of Bloom nutes so hope that helps too. Pics tomorrow or maybe later.

 

[Skybound]

The wilting subsided, but it didn't stop.

 

[Skybound]

I just mixed another DIY CO2 bucket up. This time I put a little brain power into it.

Boiled 1.5 gallons of tap water and cooled to 150° F
Mixed in 4lb bag of granulated sugar
Added just before sealing the lid on bucket, 11.5 gram packet of Fermentis Ale Yeast ($3.50 @ hydro store)
Cleaned air lines while that cooled and put the seedling heat mat on a timer to activate 30 minutes before lights on, and off 30 minutes before lights off
I placed the 2 gallon bucket onto a wash cloth to separate heat mat from bucket (a fair amount of brew juice seeps out and I dont want to ruin the mat. I then added a 1/4" barb adapter to the air line under the lid to form a stronger seal, then poured in the yeast evenly across the sugar water, then sealed the lid onto the bucket.
My theory is that the heat mat will warm the brew juice just before lights on to climb to optimal brewing temps of around 90° F and hold it there till just before lights off. This will better work towards production of CO2 during photosynthetic light periods and decrease when the lights are off, that way I get the most bang for my buck. Realistically the wash cloth may need to be removed and the timer set to allow more time to warm up and cool down.

 

[RainStacks]

I am sorry to see you have been having difficulties. A couple of my plants look similar. I can't seem to get things quite right. The issue you are having is a tough nut to solve since it can be so many things. My plants just went into flower, so hopefully I can get it dialed. I also foliar fed w/ Epson to try and help the leaves. I did notice what looked like white residue one the bottoms of one of the leaves. It looked like dried up ferts to me, but I am not sure. I am thinking green thoughts for you

 

[Skybound]

Thanks Rainstacks. Earlier I forgot to mention that my runoff tested @ 6.1 which aint too bad. I'm seriously thinking that it might be the H2O2 because shortly after I started adding it, my grow spiraled downward on all fronts. I will add the calmag tomorrow with a small dose of H2O2 so as not to disrupt what I already started, but if that don't take, I believe I will discontinue using that in the soil. I was blinded by logic used in another thread about H2O2 and that might be the straw that breaks the camel's back, so we'll see. Irregardless I am pushing forward my dream to build a stable and very functional grow environment to flower 1-2 plants under HIDs. I still plan to spend another $700 (+/-), but after that it should be just nutes and assuming I'm successful in Grodan cubes, those too. I will check out your journal RainStacks and see if I can come up with anything that might help.

 

[Skybound]

Just got a bottle of GH CaMg. Any recommended dosage for a soil grow?

 

[donpaul.p]

sorry mate cant help with the gh camg, maybe their is something in the nutrient feed guide below in my sig,
the problem with cal/mag issues is that both def and to much shows similar signs and so does nute lock out, so its damn hard to get worked out, its just trial and error until you find what works, it will take a day or 2 to show any signs of change so its a slow process and it can get worse before it starts to recover,

maybe king john can offer some advice on this one, the wilted leaves to me looks like over watered when i flushed my cal/mag problem plant it wilted like that for about 7 days before it started to pick up, is king subb'd to your journal,